For behold, the Southern States
shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call
on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they
shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other
nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations. (D&C 87:3)
On Great Britain being called upon to join the US Civil War:
It
is a fact of history that as early as May 1861, William Yancy of Alabama was
sent to England seeking aid and recognition. In October of the same year, the Confederacy
appointed James M. Mason and John Slidell as ambassadors to England and France respectively,
to appeal to England for assistance.
Though
Mason and Slidell did not succeed in securing direct assistance from Great
Britain, it is well known that the British, in sympathy with the Confederate
cause, allowed two war vessels—the Alabama and the Florida to be
built there. These two vessels did immense damage to Northern States shipping.
The Alabama alone captured sixty-five merchant vessels and destroyed $10
million worth of property. (Allen H. Richardson and David E. Richardson, 1000
Evidences For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2 vols. [2d
ed.; South Jordan, Utah: Artisan Enterprises, 2011], 1:33)
The authors make reference to the following
from Thomas Valentine Cooper’s American Politics:
The
Alabama Claims.
During
this year the long disputed Alabama Claims of the United States against Great
Britain, arising from the depredations of the Anglo-rebel privateers, built and
fitted out in British waters, were referred by the Treaty of Washington, dated
May 8th, 1871, to arbitrators, and this was the first and most signal triumph
of the plan of arbitration, so far as the Government of the United States was
concerned. The arbitrators were appointed, at the invitation of the governments
of Great Britain and the United States, from these powers, and from Brazil,
Italy, and Switzerland. On September 14th, 1872, they gave to the United States
gross damages to the amount of $15,500,000, an amount which has subsequently
proved to be really in excess of the demands of merchants and others claiming
the loss of property through the depredations of the rebel ram Alabama
and other rebel privateers. (Thomas Valentine Cooper, American
Politics (non-partisan) From the Beginning to Date. Embodying a History of All
the Political Parties, With Their Views and Records on All Great Issues, and
Tabulated History and Chronological Events (1883), Book 1, p. 197)
On other nations being requested
to join the Civil War:
It
is a fact of history that as early as May 1861, the Southern Confederacy sent a
number of commissioners abroad to seek recognition and aid from foreign powers.
P. A. Ross of Louisiana was sent to France; A. Dudley Mann of Virginia was sent
to Holland and Belgium; and T. Butler King of Georgia was sent as a roving
missioner with the job of contacting a number of other nations. (Allen H.
Richardson and David E. Richardson, 1000 Evidences For The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, 2 vols. [2d ed.; South Jordan, Utah: Artisan Enterprises,
2011], 1:33)
With respect to the overall number
of participants and casualties during the Civil War, Benson John Lossing wrote
that:
The
records of the War Department show that on the first of March, 1865, the
muster-rolls of the army exhibited an aggregate force of 965,591 men, of whom
602,593 were present for duty, and 132,538 were on detached service. The
aggregate force was increased by the first of May, by enlistments, to the
number of 1,00,516 of all arms, officers and men. The whole number of men
called into the service during the war was 2,656,553. Of these, about
1,4900,000 were in actual service. Of this number, nearly 60,000 were killed on
the field, and about 35,000 were mortally wounded. Disease in camps and hospitals
slew 184,000. It is estimated that at least 300,000 Union soldiers perished
during the war. Full that number of the Confederate soldiers lost their lives;
and the aggregate number of men, including both armies, who were crippled, or
permanently disabled by disease, was estimated at 400,000. The actual loss to
the country, of able-bodied men, in consequence of the Slave-holders'
Rebellion, was full 1,000,000. (Benson John Lossing, The
Pictorial History of the Civil War in the United States of America, 3
vols. [Hartford: Thomas Belknap Publisher], 3:583)
Further Reading: